Public Life
Campbell's only formal political service was as a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829, which brought him into contact with some of the leading politicians of the day and gave him the opportunity to preach in several Richmond churches.
In 1840, Campbell founded Bethany College in Bethany, Virginia (now Bethany, West Virginia), which educated many leaders of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.
He visited the United Kingdom in 1847. During the trip he gave public lectures in England and Scotland, and also delivered funds that U.S. churches associated with the Restoration Movement had raised for famine relief in Ireland. While at Glasgow he was challenged by James Robertson to a debate on the subject of slavery. The rhetoric surrounded the challenge resulted in James Robertson suing Campbell for libel; Campbell denied the charge. He was arrested and imprisoned for ten days. Campbell was released when the warrant for his arrest was declared to be illegal, and ultimately a verdict was given in his favor.
Read more about this topic: Alexander Campbell (clergyman)
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or life:
“Consider any individual at any period of his life, and you will always find him preoccupied with fresh plans to increase his comfort. Do not talk to him about the interests and rights of the human race; that little private business of his for the moment absorbs all his thoughts, and he hopes that public disturbances can be put off to some other time.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“Unable to create a meaningful life for itself, the personality takes its own revenge: from the lower depths comes a regressive form of spontaneity: raw animality forms a counterpoise to the meaningless stimuli and the vicarious life to which the ordinary man is conditioned. Getting spiritual nourishment from this chaos of events, sensations, and devious interpretations is the equivalent of trying to pick through a garbage pile for food.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)